Barbara Barker: Don't look now, but Knicks could win it all
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, center, holds the MVP trophy after Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday in Cleveland. Credit: AP/Sue Ogrocki
Fasten your seat belt, Knicks fans. This wild and crazy postseason ride is far from over.
The Knicks are heading to the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years. For the first time in a generation, your team is the best team in the Eastern Conference. While this is a feat worthy of being celebrated — and you can bet your favorite John Starks jersey that New York will be celebrating all week — it is not the biggest takeaway from the way the Knicks completed their sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers with a 130-93 massacre in Cleveland on Monday night.
The way the Knicks are playing, this is not the end game. They have a legitimate chance to win their first title in 53 years.
The switch has flipped. The narrative has been changed. No longer is just getting to the NBA Finals the ceiling for this team. The way the Knicks have steamrolled through the Eastern Conference, they have proved that they are a serious championship contender and not just the team that is supposed to automatically lose to the Western Conference champion, whether that be Oklahoma City or San Antonio.
The Knicks are the hottest team in the NBA right now. They have won 11 straight playoff games, making them one of five teams to win at least 11 straight games in a single postseason along with Golden State in 2017, the 2002 Lakers, the 1999 Spurs and the 1989 Lakers.
During that streak, the Knicks have beaten their opponents by a total of 262 points, an average of 23.8 points per game. They are 12-2 in the playoffs, with their only two losses being by one point.
In each series, they have gotten better as it has gone on, winning their closeout games by margins of 51 points (Atlanta), 30 points (Philadelphia) and 37 points (Cleveland). No other team in NBA history has won all three of its closeout games by more than 20 points.
In the closeout game against Atlanta, they built a 61-point lead. In the closeout game against Philadelphia, they led by 44. In the closeout game against Cleveland, they led by 45. Even beyond that, the Knicks had a 29-point victory over the Hawks (led by 32) and a 39-point win over the 76ers (led by 40).
Only one of their 11 straight victories was by single digits. In the one game in which Cleveland was competitive, going ahead by 22 points in the fourth quarter, the Knicks finished the game on a 44-11 run.
The Knicks closed out this one in an arena heavily populated by their fans despite being 500 miles away from Madison Square Garden. Among the fans were Knicks icons Patrick Ewing and Walt Frazier, who presented the Eastern Conference Finals MVP award to Jalen Brunson, who averaged 25.5 points and 7.8 assists.
While Brunson has long been the leader and top performer on the Knicks, what makes this run remarkable enough to make one believe they could win it all is that they have gotten huge contributions from the entire starting corps and key players on the bench.
Karl-Anthony Towns notched his eighth double-double of the playoffs Monday night with 19 points and 14 rebounds. After falling behind Atlanta 2-1 in the first series, the Knicks switched up their offense to take advantage of Towns’ height and pinpoint passing. Since then, they have gone undefeated while often using Towns as the hub of the offense.
Mikal Bridges has bounced back from a poor start to the playoffs to someone who has made huge plays on defense and knocked down timely three-pointers. OG Anunoby, the Knicks' best defender, has been critical on both ends of the floor despite missing two games with a hamstring issue. Josh Hart has come up with some huge games, most recently in Game 2 of the Cavaliers series, when he scored a playoff-career-high 26 points.
They also have gotten some big contributions off the bench. Landry Shamet, who is playing on a one-year contract, killed the Cavaliers with his shooting, going 11-for-12 from beyond the arc in the series.
“We want to enjoy this, but at the same time we have a larger goal here,” Shamet told the Inside the NBA crew after the game. “We have four more wins to try to go get, and it’s going to get even harder.”
Harder, but not impossible.
The Knicks may have gained one advantage in ending this round with a sweep. They will have eight days off before they are scheduled to tip off against either San Antonio or Oklahoma City on June 3. Those two teams are tied 2-2 in the Western Conference Finals. That means the earliest that series can end is May 28, and it could go as long as May 30.
What's more, the Knicks have shown they can beat the Spurs, blowing them out in a game in early March and beating them in the NBA Cup Final in December. The Knicks haven’t beat Oklahoma City since the 2022-23 season, but the way they have been shooting three-pointers lately, they might have a better chance against an OKC defense that loves to pack the paint.
One thing is for sure as the Knicks head back to New York: They don’t feel as if their mission has been accomplished.
Said Towns: “This team is hungry, and that’s the most important thing with the amazing, historical win we had tonight. The celebrations were minimal. We really wanna get back to work.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
